At Cygnia we are proud to have real experts caring for your retail and commercial signage. And we’d like you to get to know some of them. So who better to start with than our Managing Director – say hello to Fraser Burns.
How long have you been at Cygnia?
I joined Cygnia way back in February 2008 – quite a while ago! It was a logical step for me to come here as I had worked previously in the lighting and lighting maintenance sectors.
What roles did you originally join the company to do?
I joined Cygnia as an Account Manager, looking after existing clients and their signage contracts. Pretty soon my role expanded to bringing in new customers who wanted their signage maintained by real experts. That led to me becoming Sales Director in October 2010, which I held for over 10 years. Finally, in January 2020 I became Managing Director following the retirement of our founder, Phil Sharman.
How many people now work for Cygnia?
We’re very proud to employ 90 fantastic people here. The expertise we have across the business is incredible – and no-one comes close to the support and coverage we provide to the UK retail sector.
Do you go out on-site to see Cygnia’s services in action?
Yes, I make a point of getting in the field and seeing our engineers and customers in person. It’s the only way you can fully understand the various challenges faced by the teams. Plus, you see the impact they make on keeping signage looking great and working hard for retailers.
Which signage gives Cygnia the most challenges/rewards and why?
Pretty much every customer and their signage estate will present us with at least one type of challenge or another. It’s usually why they choose Cygnia to care for their signs; other firms can’t match our expertise and track record. The ongoing rollout with Sainsbury’s to upgrade the lighting and the PDU’s (Price Display Units) in the petrol forecourt totem signage has been really interesting for us. A huge number of sites of course, and each requiring careful inspection and project management to meet both customer and very strict health & safety standards. But at the other end of the scale, seeing our single site customers enjoying transformed signage is a brilliant experience too.,